7 days · Kipi border → Kavala → Lydia → Philippi → Thessaloniki → Veria → Meteora → Athens → Corinth → Santorini
A working pilgrimage, not a sightseeing tour with a chapel attached. The group enters Greece overland at the Kipi border, celebrates the Eucharist beside the stream where Lydia of Thyatira was baptised — the first recorded baptism in Europe — and again in the open air at ancient Corinth. Mass times, celebrant needs and dietary requirements are built into the operating plan.
Best for: Parish and diocesan groups · faith-based operators · pilgrim groups travelling with a celebrant
Each point is a real stop on its true coordinates, in the order the coach, the flights and the ferries take it.
Amphipolis, on the westbound road to Thessaloniki.
Amphipolis40.8230° N23.8420° E
11:30hrs arrival at Kipi Borders, meet & greet with your licensed guide.
With its strategic position at a crossroads of sea and land routes, Alexandroupolis connects Europe and Asia, East to West. This seaside city, whose trademark is its lighthouse, forms the centre of a fascinating region.
Lunch stop, then on to Kavala.
08:30hrs departure for the village of Lydia — Eucharist beside the stream where Lydia of Thyatira was baptised, the first recorded baptism in Europe.
Philippi — the first city in Europe visited by Paul, and the city where he and Silas were imprisoned. The church of Philippi was perhaps the most supportive of all to Paul.
Lunch stop, then on to Thessaloniki via Amphipolis, whose museum holds the material remains of the ancient city from prehistoric times down to the Byzantine period.
08:30hrs city tour of Thessaloniki — St. Demetrius Church, the White Tower and the Arch of Galerius.
Thessaloniki was the “co-reigning” city throughout the Byzantine era, second in population and prestige only to Constantinople.
Continue to Veria — ancient Berea, where Paul preached after leaving Thessaloniki and where the Bema of the Apostle Paul stands today.
Lunch stop, then on through the plain of Thessaly and past Mount Olympos to Kalambaka.
08:30hrs sightseeing at Meteora — “suspended in the air”, with a visit to two of the monasteries.
An authentic forest of rocks of fantastic shapes cut out over the Peneus valley and the town of Kalambaka — a unique geological phenomenon. Perched on huge granite rocks, the monasteries seem suspended between earth and sky, each holding priceless historical and religious treasures.
Lunch stop, then the drive to Athens.
09:30hrs, after Mass, across the Corinth Canal to Corinth — forever remembered through Paul's letters to a lively church in the midst of paganism.
Here Paul recruited two valuable assistants, Priscilla and Aquila. The group celebrates the Eucharist at the ancient site — open-air Mass — before continuing to Kechries, the port of Corinth and Paul's departure point for Ephesus (Acts 18).
After lunch, return to Athens for a four-hour half-day city tour including the Acropolis: the Panathenaic Stadium (short stop), the Temple of Olympian Zeus, Hadrian's Arch, the Parliament and the Memorial to the Unknown Soldier, the Academy, the University, the National Library and Constitution Square — then the Propylaea, the Temple of Athena Nike, the Erechtheion and the Parthenon.
04:30hrs breakfast boxes and transfer to Athens International for A3 352 (07:00 – 07:45hrs).
08:30hrs the group meets its coach and guide for a half-day tour: Pyrgos village and the Profitis Ilias monastery viewpoint, Fira town, and an orientation tour of Oia.
Sunset watch at 19:25hrs, then on to the hotel.
07:30hrs transfer to Santorini airport for A3 349 (09:50 – 10:45hrs) to Athens.
11:30hrs meet & greet with the guide, lunch at a local restaurant, then an orientation tour of the Athens city centre and free time in Plaka.
15:00hrs transfer to the airport for the international flight.
Dates, pax, hotel category and pace — we return the same document, rewritten for you and priced.
Aegean Odyssey